What is an advance directive?

Other District of Columbia Estate Planning FAQs

• Do I need to have it notarized?
  No. The advance directive can be properly executed with the signature of two witnesses.
• What should I do with the advance directive after I sign it?
  Give your doctor, nurse and person you appoint to make your medical decisions on your behalf, your family and anyone else who might be involved in your care, a copy of … more
• What is artificial nutrition and hydration?
  When food and water are fed to a person through a tube.
• What is an autopsy?
  It's an examination done on a dead body to find the cause of death.
• What is Comfort Care?
  Care that helps to keep a person comfortable but does not make him/her better. Bathing, turning, keeping a person's lips moist are types of comfort care.
• What is Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)?
  Treatment to try and restart a person's breathing or heartbeat. CPR may be done by pushing on the chest, by putting a tube down the throat, or by other treatment.
• What is a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care?
  An advance directive that appoints someone to make medical decisions for a person if in the future he/she cannot make his/her own medical decisions.
• What is life-sustaining treatment?
  Any medical treatment that is used to keep a person from dying. A breathing machine, CPR, and artificial nutrition and hydration are examples of life­sustaining …
• What is organ and tissue donation?
  When a person permits his/her organs (such as eyes or kidneys) and other parts of the body (such as skin) to be removed after death to be transplanted for use by … more
• What is a persistent vegetative state?
  When a person is unconscious with no hope of regaining consciousness even with medical treatment. The body may move and eyes may be open, but as far as anyone can … more